Heal The Doctor
by AlmostHeaven
Summary: Doctors do make the worst patients. Spoilers for Poisoning The Well. Really short but I hope you like it. Reviews enjoyed. Canon.


**Healing The Doctor**

By Almost Heaven

Disclaimer: No, I don't own them but if I did, this show would not have ended after just five seasons! Ah, hem. Anywho, not mine, blah, blah, blah.

Summary: Doctors do make the worst patients. Rodney and Carson work some stuff out after Episode 6, Season One, Poisoning the Well. Canon.

SASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASASA

"I'm sorry, love. I'm so sorry." Carson could feel the tears running down his face but he did not care. Perna was dying and he was helpless to prevent it. A rage built within him, how could he have let this happen? Thousands were going to die because of the serum he helped make. This beautiful woman before him, this woman he loved, was going to die. It was his fault. If he had insisted on more trials, made them understand. The rage left as abruptly as it had arrived, replaced by an overwhelming grief. It had been so long since he let himself feel this way about a woman and she was going to die. He continued to stroke her hair as the light left her eyes and she slumped to the bed.

Suddenly Dr. Beckett was awake. He jerked upright from his uncomfortable position of having fallen asleep at the desk in his office. What had awoken him? Then he heard it again. Someone was moving around in the infirmary. Next he heard a muffled curse. And that someone was Rodney McKay. What was that daft man doing in his infirmary at this hour? Standing up and stretching his sore back, Carson made his way out into the main room. He found Rodney going through the supplies on the rack in the center of the room. As he approached, the astrophysicist exclaimed triumphantly as he grabbed something from a box and turned around abruptly only to gasp in surprise at seeing the doctor.

"Give a man a heart attack why don't you!" he nearly shouted.

"Well, ye would be in the right place if I did. Speaking of which, what the devil are ye doin' here so late, sneakin' about at that?" Carson crossed his arms, as he spoke, not happy having to deal with Rodney's undoubtedly hypochondriac antics at two o'clock in the morning.

"Um, didn't realize anyone was here. Nothing to worry about though. I can handle it. You should go to sleep; it's been a long day. I didn't mean to disturb you." Rodney was sliding towards the door as he babbled at Dr. Beckett who noticed how his friend had hidden his left hand behind his back.

"Rodney, let me see it." Carson said with a sigh, holding out his right hand.

"See what?" Rodney tried to sound nonchalant while still edging towards the door.

"Your hand, Rodney. The one ye are currently hiding behind your back."

Rodney sighed and stepped toward the doctor holding the previously hidden appendage out to him. Taking his wrist gently in his hand, Dr. Beckett tilted his hand slightly to see it better in the dim light. Frowning, he tugged Rodney forward slightly to better lighting. Now he could see the injury clearly. Nearly the entirety of Rodney's palm was covered in an angry red burn, the skin blistered and shiny red. From the looks of it, it was a second-degree burn, at least. Carson looked up at Rodney to see the man clenching his teeth, trying not to cry out in pain at his ministrations.

"Rodney, this is serious. A bit o' burn ointment won't do much fer ye at the moment. Come over here." He reluctantly let go of Rodney's hand and gestured he follow him. He took Rodney to a sink against the opposite wall and started up the water. After checking the temperature he reached out and took McKay's arm with the injured hand and pulled him up to the edge of the sink. He then gently took his wrist and pushed his hand under the water.

Rodney flinched for a moment but then relaxed as the cold water washed over the burn, cooling the skin rapidly. Carson examined the burn again after about ten minutes and then reached up and turned the water off. He then pointed imperiously to one of the exam beds nearby.

Rodney did so awkwardly with one arm and then sat on the bed, hunched over with his hand held gingerly before him.

Carson went to the supply area he had found Rodney rummaging through and returned with an ice pack, gauze, and several other implements. He immediately manipulated one of the ice packs to activate it and placed it in Rodney's injured palm. "What did you do, Rodney? Forget you left a hotplate on or some such thing in your lab?" he scolded as he held the icepack in place firmly but gently. He was surprised to see Rodney duck his head, actually avoiding his gaze as he answered him.

"Well, I found this device in one of the old labs that I thought might be some kind of power source. I had just turned it on and was watching the energy output increase when it got really, really hot." A sigh." I dropped it when I felt the heat and it promptly melted right into the counter. I thought it off and now it's sitting about 3inches into the counter top. Radek will never let me hear the end of this." He continued to look down and looked very much like a dejected child whose toy was broken. Carson couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight of his genius friend in his childlike innocence. A rare sight indeed.

"Ach, Rodney, perhaps a little more caution is warranted considering your track record with unknown ancient devices, eh?" he said as he carefully lifted the icepack to look at the burn. The swelling was slightly reduced and the skin was still a bright shiny red. The skin was unbroken though and the blood vessels beneath looked whole as well. He gently replaced the icepack and looked up at Rodney to see him watching him under his lashes though he quickly found the bed very interesting when he saw Carson look up. That combined with the quiet, not something one was used to around Rodney, concerned Carson very much.

"Rodney, is something else wrong? Your not burned somewhere else are ye?" he exclaimed as he started to push aside various bits of clothing with his free hand to see any hidden injuries that the sometimes eccentric scientist might be hiding. McKay startled at the sudden slightly rough examination and began to bat at the doctor's hand.

"No, no, I'm not! Cut it out!" he exclaimed and then oddly let out a giggle as Carson was moving his shirt away from his right side. "Hey that tickles!"

Carson stopped checking him over with a frown. He watched Rodney sort out his clothing with one hand while glaring at him.

"Bloody hell, Rodney! What the devil is going on?" Carson growled, his accent thick.

"Um, nothing, I just didn't want… " Rodney slumped even further in his spot on the bed. "I didn't want to disturb you. I figured you would want to be alone, you know, after.. Hoff and all." He stammered finally looking at Beckett with troubled eyes.

Oh, Carson thought. So that was his problem. He frowned. He knew Rodney didn't handle emotional situations well, really not being a people person and all. Could his worrying about this and its affect on his friend caused him to become so careless he hurt himself. The man was such a contradiction. Gruff and factual with a truly brilliant mind but awkward and childlike at times with no real coping mechanisms for dealing with his or another's possible trauma.

"Rodney, ach. Lad, please don't even think you can't come to me. As much as I grumble about your near constant presence here, " He smiled at his slight jib." I would never want you to be hurtin'. For a genius, you are sometimes quite stupid, Doctor Rodney McKay." He patted the other man's shoulder to take the sting out the last statement. Rodney looked mildly annoyed but straightened up on his perch at the edge of the bed. He smiled ruefully a moment later.

"How is it you just went through your own special kind of hell in voodoo land and instead of my comforting you, your taking care of me… again?" He looked sheepishly at the doctor and this glanced at his outstretched hand. Amazingly it didn't really hurt all that much now, just kind of throbbed slightly.

Carson removed the icepack and delicately examined his hand again. As he opened a tube of ointment and began to spread it over the burn, he said softly,' It's what I do, Rodney. Its what I love doing. Helping others with the skills I have learned gives me purpose. "

He smiled up at Rodney as he picked up a roll of gauze and began winding it around the physicist hand. " What happened on Hoff, what happened to Perna, I couldn't have known my trying to help those people would lead to that. I wish it hadn't, I wish they had listened to me but it was not to be." He gently tied off the bandage, Rodney barely feeling the pull of the gauze as he did so.

"There we are now. I'll be giving you some thing for the pain as well as an anti-inflammatory. We'll need to change the bandage about twice a day and you won't be wanting to get that wet for a few days. It's going to be stiff and sore for a wee bit but it should be right as rain in a week or two." He placed his hand on Rodney's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Don't hesitate to come to me personally Rodney. Not ever. I count you as a friend, really and truly."

Rodney smiled at him then. His ear-to-ear smile that would have put the Cheshire Cat to shame. Two Rodney rarities in one day. How odd.

"Thanks Carson. I will hold you to that you know.' He quipped as he hopped down from the bed. He flexed his hand experimentally and then started to leave the infirmary.

As he got to the exit, he glanced back at Carson who was cleaning up the things he had used to take care of his hand. The doctor paused as well and looked over his shoulder at his friend.

"Thank you Rodney." He said simply.

"What for?" said a confused but smiling McKay.

"For reminding me of why I do what I do. And for being my friend." He turned back to cleaning up and began to mentally turn out the few lights that were still on in his thankfully empty infirmary. As he put the things away and headed to his quarters he smiled to himself. He would never forget the Hoffans or the lovely Perna but he now knew for sure that he was where he was supposed to be, doing what he should be doing, even if that was just frequently patching up a certain scientist who was too curious for his own good.


End file.
